Osha Fines Fertilizer Plant $28,800

November 19, 1992|By PAUL MARKS; Courant Staff Writer

EAST WINDSOR — Citing a long list of workplace-safety violations from faulty ladders to insufficient rat control, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has imposed almost $29,000 in penalties on Crop Production Services Inc.

In a 27-page document released Wednesday, the federal agency says the seven employees at the Chamberlain Road plant face faulty electrical fixtures, raised platforms that lack railings, conveyors without required guards and tanks of propane gas stored where they could be struck with a forklift or ignited by an accidental fire.

OSHA's inspection of the fertilizer plant was done during the two weeks after an accident Aug. 25, in which a worker cleaning the inside of a steel hopper fell 30 feet and broke his leg when a rung on a wooden ladder broke.

Poor maintenance of that ladder -- the nails had rusted away -- was among the 39 unsafe conditions or practices cited by OSHA. All but three of the violations were termed serious.

The proposed fines total $28,800. The company has 15 days in which to contest the findings.

Joseph Normand, assistant area director in the Hartford office of the occupational safety agency, said violations are categorized as serious when they pose a risk of serious injury. Only "willful" violations, which show a flagrant disregard for worker safety, are more severe.

"We think that anything that's categorized as serious is a problem that needs addressing," Normand said. OSHA has given the Tulsa, Okla.-based company until Dec. 31 to correct the violations.

Richard Gearheard, vice president and chief financial officer of Crop Production Services, said the OSHA citation was received at the East Windsor plant Wednesday, and he had not seen it yet.

"I don't know what our course of action will be until we see the citation," he said. "Certainly it's not threatening to the financial health of Crop Production Services even if we pay the entire amount.

"We do take safety very seriously," he added. "We will address

this issue and take this citation very seriously."

Gearheard said Crop Production Services was formed in 1983 as a successor to Agrico Chemical Co., which originally operated the plant in the Windsorville section of East Windsor, where much acreage is used to grow tobacco, corn and potatoes. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potash are blended there and bagged for shipment to local farmers.

Crop Production Services employs about 435 people at about 90 plants in 16 states, Gearheard said.

Normand said fines often are reduced for smaller companies, but the Tulsa firm does not qualify. The OSHA official said Crop Production Services never has been cited before.

In findings that address the August accident in which John Radziewski of Suffield was injured, OSHA said:

The company lacks safe procedures for entry by workers into confined spaces such as the hopper, and should establish a permit system authorizing employees to enter confined spaces only with approval and prescribing protective measures.

Entry into confined spaces should be prohibited until the air inside has been tested for flammable gases and toxic substances.

Employees should be required to review guidelines for safe entry and emergency exit of confined spaces before they enter.

Four ladder-related hazards, including three related to the outdoor hopper in which Radziewski fell, must be corrected.